• B Hohendorff, C Weidermann, P Pollinger, K Burkhart, K-J Prommersberger, and L P Müller.
• Rhön Klinikum AG, Klinik für Handchirurgie, Bad Neustadt Saale. Bad Neustadt Saalebernd.hohendorff @hotmail.com
• Handchir Mikrochir Plast Chir. 2012 Jan 1;44(1):1-4.

AbstractKnowledge of the elastic properties of children's fingers is very important to understand the potential hazard for jamming injuries that exists in modern motor vehicles with automatic power-operated windows. This study determined the elastic resistance and the point of onset of bone/joint deformation at each of 5 different jam positions of a child's finger under continuous dorsal-palmar compression. An unembalmed finger that recently had been surgically removed from a polydactylic 8 month-old girl was jammed in a custom hydraulic test apparatus. A subminiature force sensor and an electrometric path sensor measured force and deflection values. To visualise the respective point of onset of bone/joint deformation, jamming of the finger was performed under fluoroscopy. The mean force at the point of onset of bone/joint deformation was 78.4 N. The current statutory limit of 100 N for the maximum closing force of an automatic power-operated motor vehicle window is thus well beyond the point at which finger injuries can occur in children. Assuming finger injuries in children can occur at a jamming force below approximately 80 N, a reduction of the statutory limit to us higher than 50 N is reasonable.© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

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